Visit my NEW website http://www.Rozwoundup.com to keep current with my blog and classes.
While you're at the NEW blog, go to the bottom of any page and use my SUBSCRIPTION FORM to sign up for the NEW RozWoundUP.

Second "Design Recharge" Interview: April 1, 2015In this second interview with Diane Gibbs at "Design Recharge" we focus on International Fake Journal Month. If you're wondering just what that is, I give a great description of it, and why you might want to participate. Also check out our earlier interview (below on this list) if you want more information about how I approach visual journaling.

First "Design Recharge" Interview: February 12, 2015Diane Gibbs of Design Recharge interviewed me for International Fake Journal Month (2015). We get a little side tracked and talk a lot about sketching, visual journaling, and my creative process. It's a great interview.

Where Is Roz Blogging?

Podcasts with Roz

Danny Gregory and I Discuss Visual JournalingSadly a two part podcast from May 2008 made with Danny Gregory, author of "An Illustrated Life," is not currently available. We talked about journaling, art media, and materials…If this becomes available again in the future I will let you know.

Finding Bits of TimeRicë Freeman-Zachery, author of "Creative Time and Space," talks to me about finding time to be creative. (Taped October 23, 2009.)

November 2016

November 30, 2016

Above: Mah-Jing Wong from the current season of Project Runway. He's one of my favorites this season, despite almost always looking scared. He's had some bad deals but he's hanging on. I hope to catch him smiling at some point. Pentel Brush Pen—squeezy barrel, dye-based, water-soluble ink—sketch in a 8.27 x 11.69 inch (A4) size Hahnemühle Nostalie Journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

In case you haven't realized it yet, it's TV week on the blog. Where I viewed a show appears in parentheses after the show's title.

Left: Detail from the first image. I just really love the way you can play with this diluted ink on the Nostalgie paper surface. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I spent a lot of hours on the sofa with heating pads at the end of the summer because of a back injury. With some great physical therapy I made it back out on the bike to enjoy the sunny late fall weather. Stress reduction was handled by catching up with some of my favorite TV shows (or new shows). I’d like to recommend the following.

Raised by Wolves(RBW) (on Acorn). Seasons 1 and 2. I admit that when I got five minutes into the first episode of the first season I was hooked. It’s hard for me to not like a young teen you has a picture of George Orwell over her bed, and dialog that went by so fast you had to sit up and pay attention!

Left: "Aretha" in RBW played by Alexa Davies. Water-soluble, dye based ink Pentel Brush Pen on Nostalgie paper. With a bit of watercolor. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I binge-watched the entire first season (six half-hour episodes if I remember correctly, so that’s just like watching one really bloated sci-fi movie, only there’s no bloat in RBW or any bloating after effects.)

Hungry for more I went searching on the internet and discovered that there was a second season already taped and coming soon in the summer to Acorn (it did, I watched it over 2 evenings). There was also discussion about saving RBW for a third season, but I was distracted this summer and didn’t pay attention (see the first paragraph of this post). Sadly I just learned that the they didn’t meet their fundraising goal on Kickstarter. You can read about the show there.

Raised By Wolves became one of the highest-rated comedies on Channel 4, was voted the ninth-best sitcom of the 21st century by Radio Times, and won the Rose d’Or for Best Sitcom of 2016. It was watched around the world, and Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (she wrote Juno!) is adapting it for an American audience. It was two years of glory - it couldn’t have gone any better.

Sadly however, despite its success, we heard that Raised By Wolves would not be getting a third series, because that’s what happens in TV sometimes. We presumed it was something to do with David Cameron and the death of David Bowie. Those two things have fucked everything up.

It’s sad, it was really thoughtful, funny TV, and I will miss it. You can enjoy the two seasons, and I’ll definitely rewatch them.

Grace and Frankie(Netflix) came back for a second season—I think I mentioned it in my last TV overview, but I’m mentioning it again because it’s worth watching. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin play friends whose husbands divorce them so they can be together. Fonda’s and Tomlin’s characters aren’t that friendly, being different sorts of people—Fonda being controlled and a bit uptight; Tomlin being a bit of an “earth-mother” type. But in the course of two seasons they find some common ground. The Husbands played by Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen also have some issues to deal with. It’s comedy so all the ethical issues of life aren’t resolved, but there were some fun and real moments.

Happy Valley Season 2 (Netflix). This series about a Yorkshire police sergeant played by Sara Lancashire, is gripping and emotionally heart wrenching. As difficult as it is to watch I can’t recommend it enough. Lancashire’s performance is simply stunning and you will find your chest actually aching for the situations she just gets through. I didn’t want it to end. But I wanted to start breathing again.

Bob’s Burger(Netflix) This animated series recounts the life of the owner of eponymous burger joint, and his wife and three kids. I think I watch it for nostalgic reasons. While this family is nothing like my nuclear family, if interviewed I believe they would note a striking resemblance between me and Louise. I’m only in season three and the show is currently in its seventh season, so I have a lot more fun to enjoy.

The Flash(Netflix and currently CW). Now that the weather has turned cold I’m back on the indoor bike and I’ve been able to pedal my way through season two. Since I first started watching this show around January 2016 I’ve become rather sentimental about Barry Allen (The Flash, played by Grant Gustin). I don’t know if it’s how he lost his mom and saw his dad wrongly imprisoned for her murder but I found myself getting quite teary eyed in several episodes. I think it’s actor Jesse L. Martin who plays Detective Joe West, Barry’s adoptive dad. Martin has created an on screen bond with Allen that has depth and sincerity. It’s just fun to watch. Unfortunately the second season ended in a way I didn’t want, so I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the current third season. We’ll see.

I forgot to add (and am doing it now (8:50 a.m.) Agatha Raisin (Acorn) It's as if Miss Marple were a lot younger, a bit strident and bossy, sexualized, and had a killer hairdo (most of the time). There are some really engaging secondary characters. Ashley Jenson, who plays Agatha, was also in Extras with Ricky Gervais (a show about actors who play extras in various productions—it has an odd vibe that is oddly compelling and not depressing). But regardless of which end of the spectrum she plays Jenson's voice is amazing. I could listen to her read the phone book.

I also forgot to mention that I'm a fan of Brooklyn 99. I love Andre Braugher and everyone on the cast.

At the end of the winter, while I was still pedaling indoors I began an ambitious project to rewatch all of Inspector Morse.

I realized a couple things. I never watched all the episodes when they first aired. There was a lot of new viewing for me. And Morse is much like I remembered, an often bitter, snippy, snob, with odd paternalistic and sometimes even creepy attitudes towards women. (There’s a comment in one episode about girls in sports tunics if you don’t believe me—as a girl who once wore a sports tunic it rather put me off.)

Watching Inspector Morse solidified two ideas that had been forming in my brain. First, that Sergeant Robbie Lewis (Kevin Whately—who goes on to star in Inspector Lewis) is the hero of all the Inspector Morse episodes and the moral glue that holds their universe together—no matter how much Morse might fancy himself a deep thinker.

And second, I still do not understand how the character shown in Endeavour (the prequel to Inspector Morse, set in the 1960s) grows into the Morse of Inspector Morse. They both like music. They have trouble with affairs of the heart, but it doesn’t explain everything else. The 1960s Morse only has 20 years to grow into the man Morse was in the 1980s. Go watch the first episode of Inspector Morse and see what I mean.

Actor Roger Allam plays Endeavour Morse’s commanding officer, DI Fred Thursday and he is a joy to watch. (He is also in at least one Inspector Morse episode as a guest character—I lost the sheet on which I wrote it down so you’ll just have to do some research if it interests you.)

Left: Despite the fact that the actors wore big wigs or had large hairdos I couldn't get behind Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The show has the type of plot that makes me anxious, I can't describe it any other way without giving massive spoilers. I literally only fast forward through it looking for wigs to sketch. (Brush pen and watercolor on defunct printmaking paper in a handbound journal.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

There have been other shows I’ve watched but these are the ones I’ve been spending time on as I pedal indoors, or stretched out during the long wait for what was to come in The Walking Dead…but I’ll write about that next time.

Oh wait, there’s more—I’m finding The Crown(Netflix) about the young Queen Elizabeth very interesting. Costumes, the times, supposed conversations.

Meanwhile I’m looking forward to Game of Thrones and John Oliver (Last Week Tonight) returning; catching up on Bill Mahr; and staying current with Modern Family, Life in Pieces, and Gotham. (Look, I have to watch, I’m a Donal Logue fan. Go watch Terriers.)

November 28, 2016

Above: Pentel Brush Pen and gouache sketch of Swatch from "Project Runway. (8 inch square hardbound journal with the old/defunct Folio paper). No black paint here, I'm experimenting with Helio Blue (a phthalo blue that has a bit of a green cast to it) and mixing it with it's complementary red. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

You can bet if there is a dog on a TV show I'm going to see it. So it's no surprise to my friends who know I watch "Project Runway" that I sketch Swatch whenever he appears.

Left: Detail of the above sketch—because I know you love gouache as much as I do. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Remember I think dogs are best when they are black and white! (The girls.) It's so graphic. And so fun to paint. What you might not know is that I love Boston Terriers. I think they are adorable. My radar is always alert to them.

So today I'm sharing two sketches I did of Swatch while watching "Project Runway."

Even though I've been a fan of Swatch since he started appearing on the show I never knew if he was male or female, so I sought the answer on the internet and found this lovely article all about Swatch by Robyn Hagan Cain. Check it out.

Find a dog to sketch today.

If you can't find one, watch "Project Runway" and sketch Swatch!

Below: Another sketch of Swatch from "Project Runway." 9 x 12 inch Fabriano Venezia Journal with Pentel Brush Pen and watercolor. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

If you don’t watch violent movies then don’t read my post today. I’m not going to discuss the violence shown in the movie I’m writing about, but it is one of the most violent movies I’ve ever seen and you aren’t going to watch it so stop reading and go have a really great day and get some sketching done.

Tom Hardy was robbed. I understand there's a process for how the Academy awards are nominated and then voted upon. Maybe it’s a little bit too much to ask a predominantly LA-based industry to concern itself with British Film, but I still do not understand how Tom Hardy did not win an academy award for Best Actor for “Legend.”

Maybe the release time of the movie caused it to fall through the cracks?

Maybe members of the Academy are deeply uninterested in British gangsters?

It can’t be that they don’t want to watch violent films or award actors who excel at capturing violent characters on the screen. (Look at the list of Best Actor Awards.)

I just don’t get it.

Legend is a movie about the Kray Brothers, Reginald (Reggie) and Ron, who are identical twins, and who terrorized London in the 1960s.

There have been other movies about the Kray Brothers but in this movie Tom Hardy plays BOTH brothers.

And he does it seamlessly.

Let’s think about that for a moment.

While they were identical twins the Kray Brothers weren’t really identical. So it’s not like Hardy can simply jump from one side of the set to the other and do the next part as the other brother. There are some make-up and wardrobe changes that need to take place.

They also have some substantial character differences. Ron was the more controlled, and could control, for the most part, his brother Reggie’s outbursts. Reggie, well he was just sort of a force of emotion moving through the world enclosed in a large and powerful body—impulse control was not his strong suit.

I knew going into the movie that Tom Hardy would be playing both characters. But immediately there is such a sense of difference that you lose all sense of both those characters being Tom Hardy. (Before seeing this movie I'd watched other Tom Hardy movies, including The Drop which I recommend—it's the last performance of James Gandolfini, and a tense and taut performance by the entire cast.)

Isn’t that what great acting does? Makes us forget we are watching an actor?

Left: Competing gangster threatening the Kray's in a bar scene. (I didn't get the character's name so I couldn't look him up in the cast.) Pentel brush pen with Montana Marker background in an 8 x 8 inch Seawhite of Brighton Sketchbook. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

And when the movie was over I could hardly speak because that’s when you have time to think about what you just saw: A man playing against NOTHING because he’s playing against himself in a performance that hasn’t been taped yet. And in playing against nothing he has to react, and he has to remember what he’s playing against, he has to modulate behavior and reaction at two ends of the spectrum, or even at the same point of the spectrum but with character specificity, and so on.

I sat down to watch the movie believing that it couldn’t be done. I got up from the movie knowing Tom Hardy was brilliant.

Hardy did win the British Independent Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Legend.

I think we have to look at violent characters to understand humanity in general.

And I think we have to recognize actors who bring these characters to life in seamless ways that leave us rather stunned.

Want to see Tom Hardy disappear into another character watch "The Revenant" (you won't even recognize him at first, but the mumble might clue you in).

November 21, 2016

Left: Water-soluble Color Pencil sketch of actress in the British comedy “Hebburn.” Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I first opened my first Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook in June of this year. I thought I’d be finished quickly (even though it’s a nice thick journal) and would write a comprehensive review.

Then life interrupted.

I continued to work in the Seawhite Sketchbook (SW for short) but I also worked in other journals I was testing, or sometimes simply carrying around because they were smaller and my shoulder was acting up. And of course there was the Minnesota State Fair…

I completed the sketchbook on November 11, 2016. (I completed three other journals during that time, but there you have it—I don’t believe my lack of faithfulness was due to not liking the sketchbook, as I said earlier, life happened.)

I’ve tried to make points about the sketchbook and its paper as I’ve gone along. I’ll recap here. If you want the complete view of posts and thoughts on this journal you can go to the category list in my blog and click on “Seawhite Sketchbooks.” A listing of all the posts will come up and you can check out what I’ve done in this book and the types of media I’ve used.

I found this to be an excellent, inexpensive sketchbook, suitable for mixed media sketching. I worked in the 8 inch square version. It has 190 pages of 140 gsm Seawhite All-Media Cartridge Paper. The paper is BRIGHT WHITE, and has a high degree of opacity, even when you work with bold black ink brush pens.

Left: Detail from the above image. This is an earthtone Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Water soluble Color Pencil. I found that it layered well on this paper. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The book is 1 inch thick. It is a SEWN signature hardbound construction with sturdy cover boards that maintained their stiffness and integrity throughout the active use of this volume.

The case is covered with “black cloth.” This is a low grade type fabric—that seems more like a paper impressed with a woven pattern and impregnated with something like a resin for wear. I have no idea. I mention this because you should NOT expect high quality bookcloth.That said, the material is easy and pleasant to hold in your hand as you sketch. It is not plastic-y to the touch. It feels good. It is sturdy. It takes scuffing well, and even when it shows scuffing and abrasion it is still protective. You will find that it wears quickly on the spine, not the hinge, but the spine. I found that as I worked through the book the lighter weight spine backing actually folded just before the center of the spine. This leaves a visible crease down the spine, but does not influence the opening and closing of the book or make it weak.

Wear and tear shows most quickly at the head and tail of the spine. That area only has thin support (as is normal on such a structure) and it takes all the banging around from being pushed into and pulled out of a pack.

There are no headbands in this book—it’s a no frills book.

I know that the number one issue for many sketchbook artists is whether or not the book opens flat for working and scanning. (I admit this is an important issue but not number one for me.)

This book, being so thick, opens “flat-ish” on most spreads. There are shadows cast at the spine gutter on some of the initial and end pages of the book. In some center spreads the thickness of the book causes it to bow away from the scanner. MOST OF THIS can be addressed by weighting the book during scanning.

If your rule of thumb to live by is how Moleskines and Handbooks open flat than this book will be a little frustrating for you. (I would still encourage you to broaden your horizons and try one to see for yourself.)

The Paper

If we are sensible, we buy sketchbooks because of the quality of their paper.

Is the 140 gsm Seawhite All-Media Cartridge Paper a great paper? No, but then there are few commercially made journals or sketchbooks that come with great paper. It is a serviceable paper, and a truly mixed media paper, and that makes it a great economical choice for visual artists.

For me interacting with the paper is a large part of the experience of keeping a visual journal or sketchbook. I find that there are media I enjoyed more than others in this book. (That’s true of most commercially bound journals or sketchbooks I test.)

Below: the first pages in this new Seawhite Sketchbook. I've seeing what does what and how I have to adjust working methods. The pen and ink is incredibly fun on this paper. Note that on the right I mention that the yellow Montana Marker bled through this page. It's the only Montana Marker that did. I think I didn't shake it up enough and had too much paint on the page for too long, creating too much moisture. You will want to be careful with dye-based products on this paper if you add moisture to them, but otherwise you won't have things bleeding through in "normal" usage.

I found that the paper was smooth enough that I could write even with a fine-tipped pen on it. (See previous link, bottom left of image.) Yet when I worked with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen on this paper I could get lovely dry brush effects because there was enough tooth to the paper to allow the brush pen to leave its lovely idiosyncratic marks.

If what you do in your sketchbook is ink-based, either pigment liners, dip pens, or brush pens—this paper loves pen. You need to get one.

Below: You can see pigment ink (left) and dye-based watersoluble in (right) on this spread. Also on the left you can see some show through of heavy black ink work on the previous page. It looks less noticeable in person and doesn't distract from new work on the next page. If this show through bothers you simply scan the page with a sheet of black paper positioned behind the page you're scanning and you won't see the previous page's work showing through on your scan. On the right side the color is Stabilo Tone water-soluble crayons (a now limited line of colors available under the new name Woody). The lines do not completely dissolve on this paper because you want to use a little less water, but it's workable to build up water-soluble wax crayons like the Stabilo Tone or the Neocolor II on this paper. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Since this is a lightweight paper you’ll find that it may buckle slightly depending on the extent of your water use. I found that the drying time (with temperature and humidity being constant) was longer on this paper and required that I modify my water use, and also forced me to wait until my wash layers dried which is actually a good thing.

If you’re used to working on lightweight watercolor papers than this won’t be a stretch for you. If you work only on 140 lb. watercolor paper expect an adjustment—which should be accomplished in a single session.

I found that paint didn’t bleed through unless I really roughed up the paper with a lot of overwork in certain areas. So just don’t overwork. Most of the time I could actually have continued to overwork the paper if I had only let the paper dry first, e.g., when I put lots of layers of Montana Marker on something and kept changing my mind.

The paper didn’t pill for me, even when I overworked it (by using too much water or adding other colors too quickly when layering or correcting colors), except in one situation where I didn’t let things dry enough and actually worked through the paper in one spot. (If you see bits of “fluff” in any of my image samples it’s from the tip of a Montana Marker.)

The paper is also stiff enough to take collage—however I recommend that if you like to do a lot of collage you start preemptively removing pages (leaving tabs) at the front of the book and throughout, so that you don’t expand the book so much you stress the spine.

Will I Use These Sketchbooks Again?

Yes, most definitely. I ordered several at the time of purchase because I wanted to play with different sizes and formats (landscape, portrait, square).

I have only one reservation about this book. It’s a feeling actually, and all we have to go by in the final instance is our feelings about how something worked for use—it didn’t keep me engaged. I could say it was because the format was square and while I usually love square books of this size (8 x 8 inches) I was working elsewhere in 11 x 14 inch size. I could say it was because I was working on watercolor projects outside the journal and was being spoilt by using actual watercolor paper. I could say it was the thickness of the volume and I simply got distracted by a desire to test other books and use other papers.

All I know is that I found there were times I didn’t pick the book up but went to other books to work in.

Writing about this now I think it was nothing more than life, and typically during times of stress I use a handmade book with my favorite paper in it. That’s probably all it was.

I was also trying to do a bunch of tests and the reality was that sometimes I didn’t want to text. I just wanted to “be” with the book.

Below: Pen with watercolor (left) and pen with various markers—including Uni Posca, Montana, and Sharpie waterbased poster paint pens. I found that if I let the dilutions of my watercolors get too thin the colors looked too muted on this paper, so you'll want to control that, because while it is a mixed media paper, it is a not watercolor paper. By the time I tested the Lukas watercolors in this book I'd got the ratio of water right. (See left page on this spread for dull watercolor layer.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I also found that there are times when I would leave a blank page. I never do this (or rarely) in my handmade books. I did this in the SW because I wanted to use a square format and not have something opposite the image, or because I started something on one page and didn’t finish and didn’t want to start on the next page (unusual for me). I don’t know. I just need to tell you that this ambivalence occurred.

But then I need to tell you that as November came around and “goal and quota” time as we laughingly call it here went into full throttle, I finished this journal in a day with four spreads that were the most fun in the book. And they were ink and Montana Marker (you will see two of them in a movie review post at the end of November).

What is goal and quota time? That’s the end of the year period when I look around in my life and say, “shit, the year is almost over, how many journals are there in progress and let’s finish them up.” And of course by “let’s=let us” I mean ME, I have to finish them up. I don’t really have to finish up anything, but it makes for such a tidy effect if I have all my active journals finished before December 31 so I can start a new one on January—not essential, but tidy. I like tidy. You got that right, from reading the blog?

Sometimes we just need to give in to what we really want to do with a paper. This bright white paper loves ink. I love ink. Of course I’ll use this book again.

If I stopped binding my own books I could actually see it becoming one of my favorite commercially bound sketchbooks. Of course that would be just about exactly the moment when you couldn't purchase them in the U.S. any longer!

Note: I purchased the sketchbook I used for testing. While I provided the Amazon link as a convenience I’m not in any way connected to Amazon or Seawhite.

November 18, 2016

Left: This year at the Fair, at least on a few days, there were some birds. A big change from last year when bird flu hit and birds were banned from the Fair. The sad news is that the pigeon fancy took a huge hit. We were down from hundreds of entries to less than ten. And, well I'll mention the rest in my flip through. I was glad to have some chickens to sketch on some of my visits. This is a 7.75 x 9.75 inch Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media journal (soft covered) turned on end, gutter running through the center of the image. I had a large piece of corrugated plastic board to clamp my book to because the humidity makes the large soft-covered sketchbooks a bit limp. Pen and watercolor. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I've been busy with work and family and having the best time seeing what my design class students are coming up with.

At the same time I've been trying to think how best to show this journal which contains so many verticals. (Not something really suited for the landscape orientation of the video format.)

We work with what we have and we do a little bit every day.

After two long posts this week I thought you would enjoy a little peek into my Fair journal, and not a lot of words!

Both of the images I'm showing you here come from the two "sketch out" days. On those days I took a bound journal: a 7.75 x 9.75 inch Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media journal (soft covered). On the other days I took 9 x 12 inch or 9 x 6 inch watercolor boards.

OK—go sketch some animals this weekend! You know you want to!

Below: Some sheep. I used the Faber-Castell Pitt Calligraphy marker. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

November 16, 2016

Left: Six stacks of drawers and a couple boxes of materials waiting for the pick up. (Materials on the table are from an aborted trip I couldn't take because of an injury—I didn't even worry about putting that stuff away, I was that focused on sending the stamps to their new home.) The boxes contain the indexes (a catalog) for the collection. See the end of the post for information on that. Click on the image to view an enlargement. (And yes, the wallpaper drives me crazy too, but we were going to move about 20 years ago and I never got around to 1. moving, 2. replacing it. I can't see bothering to do it now, but that's a long story for another day.)

In my last post I mentioned the studio reorganization I've been doing the last few months. I wanted to share one huge step I took to clear the clutter and unused items from the studio.

I gave them to my favorite 10-year-old. Because I knew he would use them.

Left: The front of the drawers. Every drawer had a number and every drawer had eight boxes inside it labeled 1A, 1B, 1C,…1H. This organizational system made it easy to find and return rubber stamps to the correct drawer. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Art supplies that aren't used are sad.( I think that's the message of this week's posts.) They are actually sad (imbued as they are with the creative spirit) and you are sad just looking at them and seeing all that wasted potential.

I'd spent over 20 years involved in mail art. I'd created tons of missives, participated in numerous mail art projects, created several mail art projects of my own, and published eight issues of a rubber stamp zine in a two year period—all because I loved rubber stamps.

For me the fun of rubber stamps was the ability to create multiples quickly and send them out to lots of friends. And also I have difficulty walking away from ink in pretty much any form and rubber stamps are married to all those delightful stamp ink pads!

Above: A peek inside one of the drawers. There are two layers of boxes in each drawer, for a total of eight boxes. This drawer is PLANTS and contains everything from trees and grasses to fruits and vegetables. I could make talking and flying cabbages, or create visual puns with potatoes, peach pits, and radishes, but I could also use all those trees to make a forest scene on an envelope or give a bald head some hair—masking makes all your stamps do more! Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Rubber stamps also tied in with my love of collaging with 19th century etchings. In fact the majority of my stamp collection for a long time was 19th century etchings. As time went on I became friends with artists who had their own stamp companies and more modern works seeped into my collection. And my love of vintage advertisements also found a home in my collection.

Left: Here's a drawer of dinosaurs and "collaged" animals. The latter were things I put together and then made into rubber—like the rodent with a long tail holding a pocket watch (don't ask, yes there are multiple situations in which you would need one of these!). Yes there is a box of squirrels. Some boxes seem empty because the stamps are large and the wood blocks they rest on take up most of the box space. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I also created a lot of custom rubber—phrases and sketches of my own devising. You know, those essential stamps like a phrase stamp that says, "Soon to be a major motion picture," and stamps of Sir Sean Connery in multiple sizes because you always want the scale of your stamped creations to work out!

Originally the drawers housing this collection were in my storage room where there was a desk set aside for stamping. But when I moved out of mail art to focus on other aspects of my art the storage room became so packed that it was difficult to access the collection.

Then I cleared out this area enough so that I could use the stamps, just so that I could determine if I would return to them. I didn't.

I'll still use SOME rubber stamps in my art. I have kept several larger rubber stamp alphabets, some texture stamps, and some antique office stamps that I just adore—oh, and my old galley stamps: Master Set, Duplicate Set etc. I always looked for ways to save time and work stamps are really useful I just never threw them away when the world went digital.

I also did keep some old sentimental stamps—mostly stamps I made of the girls when they were alive. I don't imagine I'll use them much, but I couldn't see giving them away.

Above: You can't have too many phrase stamps. Above is just one drawer of such stamps. Some phrase stamps were utilitarian—postal related. But other phrase stamps were just because that's the way my mind works. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

What remains with me are the few stamps that I still use not only in my journals, but also when I work with the Gelli Arts Printing Plate. These are the stamps I never stopped using. Now instead of 50 some drawers of stamps I have everything in a few drawers and a portion of one shelf (the large alphabets).

They are easy to access. That means they will be used.

Of course, in order to give these stamps to a 10-year-old I did have to check with his parents. Such a collection—and the related indexes (because yes, how is a collection like this usable if it isn't indexed so you can retrieve a woman stamp and a certain phrase for instance?) take up space. And maybe rubber stamp art is too subversive for 10-year-olds? It isn't for me to decide. But with a go ahead from the parents I took out all the swear words (I had a lot of them) and some other stamps that weren't suitable for a 10-year-old (his grandmother is using them until he gets older) and the collection was ready to go. Mother, grandfather, best friend, and new rubber stamp collection owner showed up one bright summer day to load it all up along with my old drafting table, which I hope gives him years of happy service—and off it all went.

And I have felt so happy ever since— and every so often I get a rubber stamped note in the mail from my friend!

It just feels so light—to let go of something you used, and used hard for so long, but then didn't use, and don't need to use, and now really want to see used by someone else.

Yes, watching Dick's folks grow old and frail and having to clear out their entire house in 4 days—66 years of living—influenced me a bit. But mostly what influenced me is that I had a creative friend who would use these things when I wasn't using them.

I've had friends sell their collections—but they always spend so much time answering queries and sending out stamps one or three at a time. I couldn't imagine the time it would take to dissolve this collection.

Instead, four people came over, and helped by Dick they loaded up all those drawers of my life and drove it away. I have not stopped smiling since.

The joy and excitement I've felt at making this gift has given me the energy to keep going with the clear out. I'm scanning and tossing all sorts of things I thought I'd never part with. I'm keeping one sample of a printed piece instead of 20 or more. I've taken boxes of books off to the used book store. (And I'm pleased to report in most instances I've not returned with more books!)

I have an invitation to go over and use the rubber stamps whenever I want, but I haven't had a single urge to do so.

I don't feel fickle that I gave up my connection to rubber stamps and mail art. I'm content that the time I spent was well spent and now I have other things that take focus.

And there is breathing space for what's next.

Postscript: A Word About Indexing (Cataloging) My Rubber Stamps

I don't want to confuse anyone with the use of the word "index." In rubber stamping when you print a copy of the stamp on the wood block that holds the rubber, that's called "Indexing."

But for me the indexing I'm talking about is creating a catalog of stamps (images and phrase stamps) which allow you to look up each and every rubber stamp so that in no time you have the 10 or so stamps you need to create the image you had in mind, stamp up multiples and put all the rubber stamps back in their places so that you can find them again immediately.

OK. And you already know that I index my journal pages, so it should come as absolutely no surprise to you that I also indexed (cataloged) my rubber stamps.

I didn't take photographs of the index volumes before they went to their new home, but what you would have seen were 5 large 3-inch wide ring binders. Each was labeled with a drawer span contained within, e.g., 1-18. Every drawer was numbered as I wrote above. And within each drawer there were eight boxes which were lettered, e.g., 1A, 1B, 1C,…1H.

In the index each drawer had a tabbed section. 1, 2, 3, etc. And each tabbed section contained a page for each box, that 1A, 1B, 1C,…1H I've already mentioned.

On each box page there was a space at the top of the page that was the exact size of the inside of the box. In this box were stamped all the stamps in that actual box. I put little numbers next to the stamped images. Below this visual "box top" were two columns of ruled lines on which I wrote the numbers and the name of the company I purchased the stamps from. If they were custom rubber I wrote that on the corresponding line.

These notations allowed me to know where my stamps were coming from should people ask me, or should one of my pieces get printed in a rubber stamp zine (because they always asked for stamp credits).

A photocopy of the box top portion of this page was made and taped to the inside of the related box. Facing outwards. This means, as you can see in the box photos, that you could look down and instantly see what was in the box without having to do any mental gymnastics of trying to reverse a rubber stamp image (uninked and one solid color) in your mind.

Yes there were times when I would have to update things, but it was easily accomplished. I could update the index sheet, and then with the same stamp update the box top and just replace the box top inside the box. If a box filled I could then make a photo copy and replace that box top. It wasn't a burden to keep up with the minimal maintenance because it meant fluid use. (OK, also I had a great photocopier because I worked at home.)

There was also an alphabetical list of phrases, so if I couldn't remember "sort of" which box a phrase was in (and believe me if you are using a collection like this daily you really do remember where things are even without the index), I could remember the start of the phrase and bingo, go right to the appropriate drawer and box. (And no, I never made "Bingo, bango," into rubber—darn.)

Now back to that ring binder index—each box page was placed in a plastic sheet sleeve so I could pull things easily in and out for updating, but also because I didn't want to have to worry about reinforcing paper holes in a heavily used binder system.

I don't know how this happened to me. I guess I owe it all to clean living, proper outlook, and the help of my friends

That's something Richard Nugent says when he wins an obstacle race at a school picnic. (Have you not watched the movie? You really should drop everything and watch it right now. Cary Grant is perfection, Myrna Loy is magnificent, and Shirley Temple is just about all grown up and acting in a way that isn't saccharin so you're sure to enjoy it.)

I would say that statement is my motto. Yes. That's it.

But you have to watch the movie to really get it.

To understand the indexing (cataloging), well you just have to be someone who likes to work efficiently, and it couldn't hurt if you've been reading my blog since 2008 and knew what to expect.

We all have limited space. Everyone, even if we think we have a huge space—I have friends in warehouse artists lofts who have nothing but space, but really don't have any space.

Left: The box label from the Karisma Colour Pencil set I'm writing about today. (It was wrapped around the box.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Bonus Nostalgia: It's fun to see the typeface Mistral used on the packaging—a fun face, much used (and abused) in the 1980s and 90s—often used in an unreadable way. Here it works just fine.

Because I love to experiment with materials sometimes, because of limited space things that don't get used often get put away and pushed to "the back" and "out of sight—out of mind" comes into play, and we don't use the items we don't see.

I'm not advocating that all of our art stuff needs to be on view—I'm simply suggesting that every few years (2 or 3 at the most) you really need to go through your supplies and weed out things that you aren't going to need.

I'm also not advocating that you give up those paint brushes that are "ruined" or "toasted." No, that stuff you can still use, just like you can still use the Faber-Castell Pitt Calligraphy Marker even when they get dried out (because the it's like graphite, only it's ink!!! Yay!).

But if you go through your studio and weed out what you aren't going to use then you make space for where you are currently mentally and creatively.

My sort studio sort through was long over due. I was frustrated that often I needed to wait until Dick got home before I could go into the storage room and pull something out, because I couldn't lift stuff to get to what it was I wanted.

So little by little, early this fall, I started going through the studio. I'm still not finished. I'm in the middle of shooting another online art journaling class and we often leave the lights and camera tripod up. That means I can't really get at some stuff. It's a stop and go process—but it's going forward and I could not be happier.

Sometimes there is a bit of sadness, or at least nostalgia. When I pulled down a plastic box containing the Karisma Colours shown in the first photo for today's post I couldn't believe the find!

Inside the plastic box, swathed in layers of thick paper toweling (industrial strength, cushy paper toweling) were my favorite set of pencils EVER. (And I've been using color pencils since I was 9 years old and got my first set of Derwents.)

I thought these were lost, or perhaps inadvertently given away. Many supplies I'll give away after I stop using them, but these I would never give away. I even have short, short stubs of these pencils.

Why are these so great? The leads are smooth, buttery smooth. The leads are hard enough that they don't crumble when you want to apply hard pressure for burnishing. The leads are soft enough that they apply rich, saturated color across the tooth of your paper with hardly any pressure. They are simply yummy.

For only a few months in the early 90s (I believe it was then) these appeared at Wet Paint. I bought a set, I used them, fell in love, and bought singles of my favorite colors (yes, that dark Indigo I love so much!). And then not long after that I returned and learned that Wet Paints distributers were discontinuing them or couldn't get them, or something. I had to shake off the disappointment and throw myself into something else. I started messy with new choices for my Daniel Smith watercolor palette. I didn't realize it yet, but my life in color pencils, despite teaching color pencil techniques for another 15 years was over.

Sure I still use color pencils in my mixed media work. And I still teach color pencil and demonstrate a bunch of approaches for my students, but I rarely rush into the studio eager to pull out the pencils and get started on some new piece. I reach first for my watercolors or gouache, and then the pencils come out for the "mixed media" aspects if that's where I want to go.

Seeing these pencils again made me want to run to the drawing table and start a color pencil sketch. I couldn't do that because I had piles of stuff I was sorting on the drawing table, but was remarkable to me to feel that pencil pull again.

Now that they have resurfaced I have placed them in an area of easy access. I'll be using these up, enjoying them. (They are also in a Global Pencil case so that they are more protected. I was actually surprised that they weren't already in one as typically the first thing I do is put new pencils in a Global case.)

Note: Since I first wrote about Global Pencil Cases in December 2008 they have come out with canvas versions of their case. So if you don't want a leather case you have options wherever these cases are sold.

All the other pencil sets I have are placed away—stored in an easily accessible place should I need to get at them, but out of the way in the studio, so that they aren't keeping other things from being reachable.

I'm even having dreams about my favorite papers for pencil sketching!

Think about clearing and sorting your work space or storage space for art materials. If you haven't used a particular medium for a couple years is it something you're still interested in? If so make a play date to use it. (You could do a "Project Friday.") If you feel the medium no longer exerts a pull on you consider donating the related supplies to an art group, school, or friend's child. Supplies that aren't being used are a little sad—all that potential and no action. Release them. Release yourself for new discoveries—or find an old friend who brings back good memories and entices you back.

Remember, supplies will come and go. Companies get purchased. Lines get discontinued. Distributors run into "issues." Demand drops below an economically supportable point for manufacturers or sellers. It's good to have favorite supplies. But it's also good to accept that things are gone and use up what you have. It's all an adventure.

Project Suggestion: Take a couple hours this week to go through your studio space, the spare room you work in, your desk—wherever you have your art supplies. What supplies do you have that you aren't fully utilizing right now? Did you buy a set of watercolors but never sign up for that local class? Did you succumb to the lure of a new acrylic ink but never cracked open the bottle? Whatever it is, whatever you have pull it out where you can see it and make a list of the things you might need to do in order to use it—e.g., get suitable paper or canvas, read a book on the medium, take a class, simply make time!

Now look at your calendar. Find two weeks to pencil in where you'll work using this medium EVERY DAY! And don't avoid holidays—I've done some of my best series of paintings on Thanksgiving weekend while prepping and cooking for 12 or more people. Learn to work in the spaces of your life.

I suggest you start your usage project as soon as you read that book, so that you simply make time—but give yourself a week to get something organized. Make sure you pick a subject matter that is easily available to you—draw portraits of a pet or family member. Paint pictures of flowers from your garden.

Then mark the project on your calendar and each day show upat your workspace and make art with that medium or tool or supply. Learn what you can do with it by sitting with it for 60 minutes a day for two weeks. Use it up. There is no waste when you are learning! You might even find your way back to your first love.

November 11, 2016

Today is Remembrance Day. Typically I write a post about Remembrance Day. For some reason, prepping to write this post during a very contentious election I found that it was almost too emotional to write about this topic.

There is a recent movie about Vera Brittain, and it’s a lovely movie, but it didn’t touch me as much as the 1980s “Masterpiece” depiction of her life, or reading her book “Testament of Youth.” I urge you to read that book.

Today I’ll follow my typical ritual for Remembrance Day, but I’ll also follow my typical ritual for all my days and do some sketching. So today on a lighter note I’m sharing a sketch from the Bell Museum.

Left: My 9 x 24 inch (two board lengths) gouache sketch of the Otter at the Bell Museum. I'm seated on a micro stool about 6 inches above floor level. I've left a slight gap where the two boards end and begin in the scan. After the underpainting I did the finish down to the forelegs. See additional comments about this piece in the post. I used Schmincke Horadam Gouache on Canson watercolor board. The board was left over from the Minnesota State Fair and the tape was still on the borders. Since I'd already discovered that this board didn't like even my Nichiban Artist's tape for 30 minutes I knew I'd have tearing when I removed it—it wasn't horrible, that's all I'll say. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The Bell is closing on December 31, 2016. In the fall of 2018 it will reopen at the new St. Paul campus location. I have a lot of emotions about this closure and reopening because the Bell has been a big part of my sketching life.

At the beginning of October I started a 13-week project to sketch at least weekly at the Bell. (I’d been off all summer because of eldercare, the Fair, and back injury.) I don’t feel regret that I haven’t used the Bell resources enough—I just realized that the last days were upon me and I wanted to get in a healthy dose of usage.

The project is going great. I’ve been working on 9 x 12 inch papers or boards. All of which then fit into an archival box as a loose page journal.

One of my favorite subjects at the Bell is the Otter. It stands in the small display, with an almost Narnia-like depiction of the Minnehaha Falls background. (Winter Narnia). It’s a lovely setting painted by Frances Lee Jaques. Since the exhibit is set in one of the side halls you’re also typically out of the heavy traffic, so it’s easy to sketch without interruption.

On Sunday I met up with the Metrosketchers for a sketch out there. (The December Metrosketchers will also be at the Bell in honor of the closing—December 4, noon to 3 p.m. Free admission on Sundays.)

I arrived late because of family commitments but got right to work with my warm up. Then I moved on to my painting.

My project has a couple “aspects” on which I’m moving forward. The obvious one is just to get to the Bell and sketch, even if the week is jammed with too many obligations. The second aspect is to spend some trips there really savoring an exhibit. In other words slowing down from my speed-sketching mode and not worrying about a quota because to me at this point a quota is meaningless as the time is running out. What is, is already in my books stretching back for years, and this is really just an exercise in letting go. (It makes sense to me, it’s the only way I can describe it.)

Left: My warm up page—a 9 x 12 inch sheet of Stonehenge white, on which I did quick gesture sketches of my subject using a thick Pentel Brush Pen—dye-based, water-soluble ink. I kept this propped up against the wall at my feet. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

On Sunday, keeping with the last aspect I decided to take gouache, real brushes, a container of water (instead of just using the Niji water brush) and sketch something more or less finished (given the constraints of time; which actually got tighter because of other commitments and my delayed arrival).

I started as I always do with a warm up. I love the larger second sketch and it’s free, loose aspect. I love that it’s pretty much what I ended up painting. I tried when I started the painting, beginning with a Faber-Castell Pitt Calligraphy pen, to make the eye smaller and get the animal on one 9 x 12 inch board, but hey, lately when I’ve sketched this subject it always ends up on two pages!

When I saw the animal wasn’t going to fit on one board I pulled the bottom masking tape off the board I’d started on, and pulled the masking tape off the top of another board and held them together in my lap (I was sitting on my micro stool about 6 inches up from the floor) to finish the sketch. Then I only held one board at a time.

I did the under-painting starting at the top and working down. Then because I could tell I wouldn’t have time to finish the entire painting to the state of finish I’d like, I did the shadow work in the snow so that when I removed the masking tape on that board there would be some color at some of the edges.

Sadly that’s where things went a bit awry. My shadow is in the wrong place. I was thinking fuzzy and not looking at the mound which hid the otter’s feet. Rather than bother me, it makes me laugh and reminds me that I have to breathe more!

Left: Underpainting stage completed. Palette of fresh gouache at the right, with two "real" brushes and a Niji water brush (the last used for the warm-up). I had a little water container with two sections and a "spill proof" cap on each and used one side of it. You can also see my micro stool at the bottom left of the photo. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I then went back to the first board and started working down the figure from the head. In case you're wondering I didn't add the whiskers to the face because I didn't have the right brush. I had that information of placement in my second warm up sketch (they fall at the nose and back of the mouth). Mostly I worked with a 3/4 inch flat. Final touch up on the eye and nose was with an 8 round. I didn't have anything finer.

I got to the forelegs and it was time to pack up. I could have stayed longer (the museum was going to be open for another hour) but my butt and knees were tired of my sitting position (even with breaks), and my eyes were fatigued from working in the dim lighting.

Also I was really tired of listening to “Muskrat Love” which everyone who stopped at the next small diorama would sing—because it was muskrats.

Left: Detail view of the blending on the head. Originally I had placed the ear too close to the eye and actually committed with some of the ear fur, but because of the beauty of gouache I was able to work over that and move the ear back. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Because I was at a critical point of finishing the underpainting when it was time for the 2:50 p.m. meeting I missed it. I did get to see some great sketches by others when they stopped by for a moment to chat, and also on my walk in (because everyone else had been on time).

It was a fun, energizing, and at the same time, relaxing afternoon. I walked home in the post-daylight-savings-time growing dark, grateful for the day, for the Bell, and for my life. But please don’t ever even hum a few bars of “Muskrat Love” in my presence. Thank you.

I'll share pieces from the project as the year continues and put a video flip through of this project up on the blog in 2017 after the Bell closes and I have time to scan all of the pages.

November 10, 2016

Left: In the smallest landscape Hahnemühle Nostalgie sketchbook which is about 6 x 4.25 inches—a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch from a photo in the Sktchy app, while waiting in the doctor's patient room. No new cartridges, just the barest flow of ink…I had to keep trying to move around the face and get in a bit of everything. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Roz Wound Up is a blog about "my many enthusiasms." The banner clearly states that.

It would be disingenuous of me to not tell you that Tuesday’s U.S. Presidential election result has been difficult for me.

The link between the life of an artist and the new president might seem nebulous—but I believe that drawing and observing your world actually brings you more into life. It makes you more aware of the rich diversity around you. Drawing exercises the engine of wonder. That wonder in turn generates a spirit of goodwill and connection with others.

Honest observation, which I have attempted since I was a child because my circumstances required vigilance, brings with it a love of facts. Of observable, verifiable truths.

Only cynics believe that they can spin events in whichever way may suit them.

Artists keep looking deeper. And question.

Yesterday a friend asked me, “How can I explain the election to my grandson?”

Tags:
2016 US Presidential election, art and life, art and politics, bullies, drawing, explaining the election results, fighting for what's right, Hillary Clinton, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, portraits, the importance of daily sketching, the importance of sketching in public, work with what we have

November 09, 2016

Above: A page spread from one of my visual journals. During my By Design Class I address not only the component parts of a page, but the rationale behind making design decisions to create impact and organize your text and illustrations. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

While this is a self-guided class I made a commitment to students to be in class answering questions every Friday through the first three months of offering the class (until November 30).

You still have time to sign up for this teacher-interactive version of the class. For the next 3 weeks I'll be checking in pretty much daily. (Who are we kidding? We all knew I couldn't stick to the Friday only check in).

After November 30 you can still sign up for this self-guided class, but it will be exactly that—self-guided. I'll check in a couple times a month to answer students questions, but I will not be giving the in-depth feedback and commentary I'm giving to students and their posted work during this introductory phase.

If you've been design curious and want to take your sketchbook pages to the next level now is the time to sign up for this economically priced class. (Note: the price of the class will NOT be discounted after November 30. Students registering now are receiving bonus interaction that a self-guided class doesn't bring.)